Culture City Online: A Gathering of Twitter’s Theater Crowd

In Culture City Online, arts reporter and columnist Pia Catton looks at upcoming digital offerings from Greater New York City’s cultural institutions. Read her weekly column and follow her on Twitter.

When the Twitter conversation between theater people goes on for months and months, the next move becomes obvious: It’s time for a “tweet-up.”

On Saturday, the American Theater Wing and the Public Theater are teaming up with the website 2am Theater to host an informal meet-and-greet event at the Public from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The goal? To talk shop -– but in person instead of on the popular micro-blogging service.

“It’s just a chance to meet and use more than 140 characters,” said Howard Sherman, the American Theater Wing’s executive director.

2amtheatre.com

In the course of his active use of Twitter, Sherman (@HESherman) found himself in regular conversation with the Public’s marketing director Nella Vera (@spinstripes). He also connected with a theater voice from the Midwest: David J. Loehr (@dloehr), the associate artistic director of RiverRun Theater in the hamlet of Madison, Ind. Loehr is also a founder of 2amTheater, an all-volunteer blog and Twitter presence through which theater people find each other.

“The website distills the conversations from Twitter and sparks new conversation,” said Loehr. “You get creative people together, you’re going to get creative ideas.”

By watching those conversations, his fellow thespians have generated new performance concepts and a new website, Talkbackr.com, on which audience members can share feedback on any performance anywhere in the world — without being used as a data harvest for aggressive marketers.

The name 2am Theater came about last spring after a late-night exchange of theater talk on Twitter. One user woke up to find evidence of the discussion and remarked: “Looks like I missed the 2 a.m. theater summit.”

“It’s really one of these grass roots kind of things,” said Loehr, adding that there are about six volunteers involved in different aspects of the blog, including web development.

Loehr is coming in from southern Indiana for the Saturday’s Tweet-up. He’s also seeing “Arcadia” and “Anything Goes” — in addition to taping an episode of “Working in the Theater” that will also feature Wall Street Journal drama critic Terry Teachout.

At least 65 people have RSVPed to the event at the Public. While there are requirements for entry, the organizers describe the event as such: “This is a Tweet-up for people who participate in the 2amt conversations, enjoy the American Theatre Wing’s videos and podcasts, admire work of the Public — this is a gathering for anyone who loves theatre, period.”

To register for to the live, in-person chat with other actual human beings, click here.